Email * First Name * Last Name * I most closely identify as * Community Alumni Alumni Volunteer Student Student Volunteer Faculty/Staff Year Submit The Phillips Lecture Series was established in 1987 by the United Religious Ministry in honor of Dwight L. Phillips (1905-1973), a leading Charlotte developer and contractor. The series is hosted by the Department of Religious Studies, which is housed within the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences (CHESS). All are welcome to these engaging talks. Admission is free. Monday, March 22 Halton Reading Room (Atkins Library) Talk followed by Q&A begins at 5:30 p.m. (60 min) Light reception begins at 4:45 p.m. Speaker: Kate Ott, Ph.D. Title: “Designing Relationships: The Ethics of AI Companions” Who and how will we be in a digital future integrated with AI companions from co-workers to educators, therapists to lovers? These partnerships promise to fix the analog problems that plague these relationships—less complicated, always available, complimentary, less expensive, customizable, and more. Relational generative AI models raise pressing ethical questions about the quality and values we want in healthy and flourishing relationships. While Christianity has historically offered an anemic response to the complexity of relational, and specifically sexual. ethics, we explore how a values-based approach can remedy historical wrongs and promote future flourishing with creative, morally grounded approaches to AI companion design and use. Biography: Kate Ott, Ph.D. is Jerre and Mary Joy Stead Professor of Christian Social Ethics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL and the Director of the Stead Center for Ethics and Values. To learn more, visit kateott.org.